Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Second Konstruktor Test

Last winter I built myself a new 35mm plastic camera, the Konstruktor.


I have not had much shooting opportunity since my initial test run, however I've had the camera loaded with a second roll since I made it home from the first test run.  After bringing the Konstruktor with me on a field trip to Victoria BC (where I only had time to shoot passing landscapes from the ferry) and on a quick outing to Seattle, I decided to burn through the rest of the film around my yard and at a garden store to complete my second test run.  For the most part the spacing between shots was good, only a little overlapping which might be cause by pressing too hard on the film knob (which would pull the unused film too tight in the roll and prevent it from fully advancing)  The shots here are quick and dirty low resolution scans, only cropped and dust spots removed but are otherwise unedited.

All but one of my ferry photos showed extreme motion.  This serves as a reminder to be careful when taking the camera out of the camera case and check to see if it is on "Normal" or "Bulb" prior to shooting.  Though the ferry ride was a couple months ago, I have a vague recollection of realizing that the camera was set to "bulb" while I was on the ferry... my last shot from the boat and all subsequent shots are all perfectly clear.  

I noticed two prominent scratches down the length of the beginning of the roll of film.  This could be from the camera or the lab's C-41 machine.  Scratches can be edited out in PS, however the process is a tedious pain.  I'm posting this to keep an eye out on future rolls, and to remind myself to check the knob on the film roll to make sure it is not pressed down and pulling the film too tight in the camera.

The closer-up focus might not be entirely accurate (see the pig above) however infinity appears to be pretty sharp.  

Here is my only accidental double exposure.  My first test roll had several, and I wasn't sure if it was due to a camera malfunction or human error.  I suspect this could have been human error as I was wandering a garden store and being called this way and that at the time that I shot these.  I noticed the vignette effect of the plastic lens is enhanced when the frame is double exposed.

The last two shots on the roll overlapped, creating one image with two viewpoints of the same rose - without a counter on the camera body, I expect this happy accident to occur on probably every roll of film.

Overall I'm happy with the second roll, and I believe this camera has some real potential for fun with fewer lomography flaws (though I know the flaws are the "personality" of plastic shooting, sometimes I just want evenly spaced negatives without light leaks!)  I need to be mindful of the film knob tension and the photo setting, and perhaps with roll 3 I'll remember to play with the bulb setting on purpose. 





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